Week 1 -- Travel Log

Dearest Simone, 

I am taken aback at having heard of your journeys so far in America, as relayed to me by your mother. Across the country! In a land so great and so vast, with mountains and valleys and oceans, oh my! 

As your great aunt twice removed, it is my personal duty to ensure your safety. You must've forgotten a litany of things while packing -- your scarves? Your berets and broaches? You must remain weary of blending in too much with the Americans -- I hear on the radio many things that worry me, that of night clubs, tramps, alcoholism, homelessness, and the like. Though I know that you, of all people, should worry me least in participating in such barbarism, it is important to remember that America from the inside can be quite deceiving. Though I've never been myself, you know of that which I am referring. 

Before your return to Paris, I have but one request. My husband's step daughter is coming of age, and she finds herself increasingly dismayed with life in France. She wants to write as a journalist, to cover the big news stories and travel with her face plastered all over the news. I've reproached her for her naïveté, and I've told her that America is no place for a young woman looking for a career. Your discouragement is of utmost importance. In fact, your mother quoted to me a letter you had written, which outlined how you see the American people as participating in what one of your friends called a "pseudo-democracy?" Might you elaborate more to little Eloise the meaning of this, and the placated attitudes the adolescent girls took up during your interactions with them on your tour? I am worried that she may be wrong about the freedom America purports, and the role that women and non-white folk may have in its creation. Eloise is insistent on learning of this "Red scare" which could not mortify me more... 

I do hope to correspond more with you throughout your trip, though I am weary of the time it may take for my letter to arrive to you. I hope in your time since arriving you've found how to send letters and where to buy stamps, as even the simplest things can be confusing in America. 

Remember, Simone, that America is vast and full of terrors. For fear of losing yourself and getting lost, carry a map and your wits about you -- you can never trust the authenticity of the American people. 

With love, 

Margaret